Pneumatic pump



Dec. 1924- 1,517,594

w. G. SMYTHE PNEUMATIC PUMP Filed Aug. 1923 INVENTOR.

- 11 mism iz H. BY W WWW A ORNEY.

Patented Dec. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES WILLARD G. SMYTHE, OF GRAND RAFIID-S, MICHIGAN.

PNEUMATIC PUMP Application filed August 29, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLARD G. SMYTHE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Pumps, ofwhich the following is aspecification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to pneumatic pumps, and particularly to thatclass of pneumatic pumps wherein there is a chamber having an inlet portand an outlet port and wherein the water Within the chamber is forcedout through the discharge pipe by air pressure in one position of acontrolling valve and then the controlling valve shifts to permit theair within the chamber to exhaust and permit the inlet of water.

The object of the present invention is to provide a pump of thischaracter which is very simple and will, therefore, not readily get outof order, which has no floats to leak and thereby put the pump out ofcommission, which is particularly adapted to be used in cisterns, lakesand shallow wells but can be used in deep wells where casings are small,and which is so constructed as to be more powerful than pumps of thischaracter using floats and in which a leakage of air will not render thepump inoperative.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure1 is a vertical sectional view through a pump constructed in accordancewith my invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view through the arm 62 and lever 54,the arm 60 being shown in elevation.

Referring to these drawings, A designates a well, cistern, pool or likebody of water and 10 the casing thereof. Mounted upon the casing is ahead 11 shown as having two downwardly extending tubular guides 12.These tubular guides attheir lower ends support a head 13 which isdisposed beneath the level of water in the well, this head 13 having theshape in plan of the cross section of the well and performing a functionwhich will be later stated.

Extending through each of the guides 12 is a vertically reciprocatablepipe 14. This pipe at its lower end is engaged by means of the union 15with the head 16 of a cylinder Serial No. 660,003.

17, this cylinder at its lower end being closed by a head 18 having awater inlet opening 19 therein controlled by an inlet check valve 20.The head 16 is provided with an outlet opening 21 having therein a checkvalve 22 operating within the union 15 which constitutes a valve cage.Depending from the head 16 is the pipe 23 which is concentric to thecylinder 17 and extends nearly to the lower end thereof.

Fitting within the other guide 12 is a like pipe 14 which is connectedto a cylinder 17 in the same manner as heretofore described. In otherwords, there are two cylinders 17 and two pipes 14 and inasmuch as boththese cylinders and the connected pipes are alike, the same referencenumerals are used. The pipes 14 at their upper ends terminate in solidportions 24 carrying rollers 25, and mounted upon the head 11 is anupstanding bracket 26 which is slotted at 27 for the accommodation of alever 28, this lever being double armed and each arm at its extremitybeing recessed at 29 to 1% beneath the corresponding roller 25.

One of the tubular members 14 has double branches '30 extending inopposite directions, while the other pipe 14 has a single branch 31extending toward one of the branches and connected thereto by a flexiblepipe section 32. From the opposite branch 30 ex.-

tends a flexible pipe section 33, which in turn is connected to anoutlet pipe 34 shown as mounted upon a support 35 of any suitableconstruction. This pipe 34 is operatively connected to an air chamber36.

Mounted upon the upper end of the I bracket 26 are the two cylinders 37,these cylinders correspondingto the cylinders 17. Each of thesecylinders 37 has an integral head 38 at its lower end and is closed by aplug 39 at its upper end. This plug has an air passage 40 extendingthrough it and is connected by a pipe 4]. to a source of air underpressure. The head 38 is provided with the oppositely disposed exhaustoutlets. 42. Operating in each of the cylinders 37 is a valve head 43carrying a conical valve'44 which, when the head is raised, extends intothe opening 40 to close the same, this head 43 having the ports 45.Extending downward from the head 43 is a stem 46 which carries a valve47 in its lower end adapted to close against the bottom of the valvechamber 48, and extending below this valve 47 is a stem 49 which for aportion of its length is smzfler than the bore 5-0 in head 38. This stemcarries upon it the two spaced stops 51 and and mounted in a recess 53in the upstanding bracket 26 is a lever 54: having globular or circularheads 55 at its extremities, these circular heads operating between thestops or collars 51 and 52.

It will be obvious now that when one end of the lever is moved downwardit will retract one set of valves, while the other end of the lever o-imoving upward will shift the other set of valves upwarc. Entering eachcasing 23! and. opening into the middle of the air chamber l8 pipe 56which is connected by a flexihle pipe 57 to a pipe 59 which extends downthrough the head 11 and through the head 13 and into the correspondingcylinder 17, the flexible section 57 permitting the chamber 17 to riseand tall. Mounted on the lever .is an arm 60 provided with roller 61,and mounted upon the center of the lever 5a is a. tuhula r hollow arm 62having therein a spindle 63 carrying a roller 64L its lower end, thespindle having' a shoulder against which a coiled compression spring 65bears to urge the spindle and the roller 65 downward so that this:

' roller will bear againstthe roller 61.

The operation of this mechanism is as tollows: In order to distinguishthe cylinders 17 from. each other, I have designated one of thecylinders B and the other C and the corresponding valve casings b and Asillustrated in Figure l, the cylinder B is connected through. its pipe59 to the valve casing 7) and is receiving compressed air which, comesin through the compressed air pipe 41, passes through the ports outthrough the pipe sections 56, 57 and 59, into the cylinder 13. Thiscauses the water in the cylinder 13 to be discharged upwarl through thepipe 23, past the check valve 21, up the and out the branch 30, section$33, charge pipe 3%. lVhile the water is being discharged from thecylinder 3, the cyl' inder (lis filling with water for the reason thatthe upper end of the cylinder is connected through pipe sections 59, 57and 56 with the valve casing c and at that time the valve therein is soshifted that the air passing from the pipe '56 into the valvecasinowill. be discharged through the ports 50 and 4.-2 thus permitting thecylinder C to fill with water. "When the cylinder 13 is in its pipe andClJS- lowest position and discharging water, it is held in this loweredposition and against the buoyancy of the air in the upper portion of thecylinder by means of the latch roller 6& bearing against the coactin ilatch roller 61 which prevents the lever 28 from oscillating. l l hen,however, the water has been discharged from the cylinder 13, itsbuoyancy becomes so great that the rol er 6i will act to wedge upward onthe roller 64 against- 65- the action or the spring 62 and the armv 60and the roller 61 suddenly snap over, giving a sudden rise to thecylinder 17 and a sudden descent to the cylinder C, which at this timehas become full of water. It is to lie under stood, of course, that thebuoyancy o'l cylinder B is assisted by the weight of the cyl' inder C,though not the weight oi the water therein inasmuch as the cylinder issurrounded hy water. As the lever 28 oscillates and snaps over it willalso act to snap over the lever 54. one end of this lever will rise andstrike the collar 51 on the stem of the valves in casing a, while thehead on the op posite end of the lever will snap downward and strike thecollar 52 on the lower end ol' the stem. T his action will shift thestem "to oi? the valve in casing Z) upward to its full extent and drawthe valves oi? the cylinder downward to their full extent, this actionopeningthe air outlet ports for cylinder 7), permitting cylinder 7) tolill and closing the air outlet ports for cylinder 0 and GSllilldhll inncommunication between the compre air pipe -t'or cylinder 0 and thecylinder t to as to permit the water within the cylinder to bedischarged.

Thus it will be seen that as water is being: used from pipe 34, thecylinders Z) and will alternately rise and fall and that this rise andfall of the cylinder 0 will cause an oscilliilIlUll ol" the lovers 98and 54: and the recip- 1 ,-,'Il()i1 oil? the controlling valves l'or thetwo cylinders. It is to be particularly noted t t the rollers 61 and 64hearing against other will hold one end of the lever Ell it against thecollar 5L and at its other end bearing; tight against the collar 5:. ofthe outer valve casing, thus keepiup the valves tight to their seatsuntil the roller 61 reaches the middle pointoi its movement. Then roller61 will suddenly shoot lo the opposite side with a snap, :lorcing thelmer to change position, which rover air valves to the oppositeposition. lhe :lir chamber 36 arts to keep up a steady [low olwater.

It is to be particularly understood that while prefer to use twocylinders 17 and two sets of valves, that this pump can also be operatedwith only one oi the cylir'ulers shown in Figure l, the air tank 36action to keep up a steady stream while the cyliu der is refilling. Ofcourse. under thes cu' cumstanc'es a counterweight is preferably used onthe opposite end of the lever 28 from the cylinder. It will be seen thatin this construction, assuming that only one ovliuder is used, when thecylinder rises it will tilt the lever 28, this in turn acting): to tiltthe lever 64: and thus acting to sliiil'l: the valves of thecorresponding!" valve casing to thereby open exhaust from the cylinderand permit the inlet of water. When the water has entirely entered thecylinder, the weight will act to shift the cylinder downllt) ward, whichwill again shift the lever 28 and the lever 54- to reverse positions,thus connecting the cylinder to a source of com pressed air and forcingout the water. It is during the period that the cylinder is refillingthat the air chamber 86 acts to keep up a steady stream.

It will be understood, of course, that when water is not flowing outthrough the pipe 37 as, for instance, upon the closure of a faucet, thepump will stop, as the water cannot pass out and thus the air cannotpass in, but immediately a faucet is turned to allow the flow of waterthe pump will start work.

In deep wells where casings are sn'iall only one cylinder will be used.The head 13 which is supported by the guides 12 and which acts to guideand support the pipes 59 projects outward slightly beyond the outerlimits of the cylinders B and C so as to protect the cylinders from thewall of the casing. Inasmuch as these cylinders may be made relativelylarge in diameter, they will be much more powerful than ordinary floats,and if they do leak this leakage would only be a waste of air and wouldnot put the pump out of commission.

While I have illustrated a certain definite form of my invention which Ibelieve to be particularly advantageous, I do not wish to be limitedthereto as it is obvious that many changes might be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention.

I claim 1. A pneumatic pump including a submerged verticallyreciprocatable chamber having an inlet opening in its lower end with aninwardly opening check valve, an outlet pipe extending from the top ofthe chamber nearly to the lower end thereof and having a check valve, avalve mechanism coacting with the chamber and adapted in one position toconnect the upper end of the chamber to an air outlet and in anotherposition to close the air out-let and con nect the upper end of thechamber to a source of air under pressure, means for operating saidvalve comprising a lever operatively connected to the valve, a leveroperatively connected to the chamber to beoscillated as the chamber isreciprocat-ed, and means operating as the chamber is raised and thelever tilted in one direction to suddenly shift the valve mechanism toconnect the upper end of the chamber to an air outlet port and actingwhen the chamber is lowered to suddenly shift the valve mechanism toconnect the upper end of the chamber to a source of air under pressureand close said air port.

2. A pneumatic pump including a submerged vertically reciprocatablechamber having a water inlet in its lower end and an inwardly openingcheck valve and having an outlet pipe extending downward through itsupper end and having a check valve, a valve casing disposed above thechamber and having an exhaust port and an inlet port connected to asource of air under pressure, said casing being connected to the upperend of the chamber, valve mechanism disposed within said casing and inone position connecting the valve casing with atmospheric air and inanother position connecting the valve casing to a source of air underpressure, and means for automatically operating said valve comprising alever operatively conn cted to the valve and having an arm, a springactuated roller carried by the arm, a second lever operatively connectedto the chamber and adapted to be oscillated as the chamber isreciprocated and having a roller engaging with the first named rollerand acting as the lever is oscillated to force the first named rollerinward and then act ing to move past the first named roller and shiftthe first named lever.

25. A pneumatic pump including a submerged vertically reciprocatablechamber having an inlet port at its lower end and an inwardly openingcheck valve therefor and l121Vl11Q a vertically reciprocatable outletpipe extending through the top of the chamber nearly to the lower endthereof and having a check valve in its length, a. fixed outlet pipeflexibly connected to the vertically reciprocatable pipe and having inits length an air chamber, a valve casing disposed above and coactingwith the chamber and having a port communicating with the outside airand a port communicating with air under pressure, a pipe connectionbetween said valve casing and the top of said chamber, a valve mechanismdisposed within the chamber and adapted in one position to close saidatmospheric air port and in another position to close said connection tothe air under pressure, means acting to shift the valve to the firstnamed position when the chamber rises and to the second named positionwhen the chamber falls in cluding a lever operatively connected to thevertically reciprocatable pipe, a lever 0peratively connected to thevalve, and means causing the first named lever to tilt the sec- 0ndnamed lever when the chamber has risen to its full height and to tiltthe second named lever in the opposite direction when the chamber hasfilled with water and lowered to its full extent.

t. A pneumatic pump including a pair of submerged verticallyreciprocatable chambers, each having an inlet opening and a check valve,an outlet pipe, a vertically reciprocatable discharge pipe extending tothe top of each chamber and then to the bot-tom thereof and havingtherein an upwardly opening check valve, a flexible tubular conicenection between the upper ends of both pipes, a flexible outletconnection from the upper end of one pipe, an outlet pipe with which thelast named flexible outlet c0nnection is engaged and having an airchamber in its length, a lever pivotally engaged with the upper endsoi"? both outlet pipes, a pair of valve casings, one for each chamher,and disposed above the same, each valve casing having an exhaust portopening to the outside air, an air inlet port opening to a source of airunder pressure, a pipe cOnnection to the top of the correspondingchamber, a valve mechanism disposed in each valve casing and adapted inone position to close the exhaust port and open the air inlet and inanother position to close the air inlet and open the exhaust port, andmeans for operating said valves comprising a lever pivotally supportedat its middle and .operatively engaged at its ends with said valves, andmeans on the first named lever for suddenly tiltlng the second namedlever in one direction when the chamber on one side is full of air andhas risen to its full extentand suddenly tilting the lever in the otherdirection when the chamber on the other side is full of air and hasrisen to its full extent.

5. A pneumatic pump including a pair of submerged verticallyreciprocatable chambers, each having an inlet opening and a check valve,an outlet pipe, a vertically reciprocatable discharge pipe extending tothe top of each chamber and then to the bottom thereof and havingtherein an upwardly opening check valve, a flexible tubular connectionbetween the upper ends of both pipes, a flexible outlet connection fromthe upper end of one pipe, an outlet pipe with which the last namedflexible outlet connection is engaged and having an air chamber in itslength, a lever pivotally engaged with the upper ends of both outletpipes, a pair of valve casings, one for each chamber, and disposed abovethe same, each valve casing having an exhaust port opening to the outside air, an air inlet port opening to a source of air under pressure, apipe connection to the top of the corresponding chamber, a valvemechanism disposed in each valve casing and adapted in one position toclose the exhaust port and open the air inlet and in another position toclose the air inlet and open the exhaust port, means for operating saidvalves comprising a lever pivotally supported at its middle andoperatively engaged at its ends with said valves, means on'the firstnamed lever for suddenly tilting the second named lever in one directionwhen thechamber on one side is full of air and has risen to its fullextent and suddenly tilting the lever in the other direc 'tion whenthechamber on the other side is full'of air and has risen to its fullextent including a hollow arm projecting from the second named lever, aroller mounted upon said arm for movement toward or from the lever, aspring urging said roller outward, and an arm mounted on the secondnamed lever and having a roller engaging and coacting with the firstnamed roller.

A pneumatic pump including a pair oi submerged vertically rcciprocatablechamhers, each having an iret opening and a checl; valve, an outlet L,ie :1 vertically rcciprocatable discharge pipe cxieniiling to the topoz each -zj-haniber and then to the bottom ther and having therein anupwardly opening check valve, a flexible tubular connection between theupper ends of both pipes, a flexible outlet coi'inection from the upperend of one pipe. an outlet pipe with which the last named "ible outletconnection is eng en and having a air chamber its iengh, a loverpivotally engaged with upper ends of both, outlet pipes, a pair valverasing, one For each chamber, and di posed above the same, each valvecasing having an air inlet ort connected to a source of air underpressure and a pipe leading from the middle of each valve casing to thetop of the ci'irresponding chamber, a re cipri'icatable stein disposedin each valve casing and having at one end a valve adapted to close theair inlet port and at the other end valve adapted. to close the exhaustport, eacl' stem extending downward lower end of the valve casingthrough the and having spaced stops, a lever fulcrunied at its middleand having heads disposed between the spaced stops of the respectivevalve stems, the heads lieing smaller than the distance between saidstops, a second lever iulcrun'ied at its middle and having opcrativeengagement at its ends with the vertical pipes of the cl'iainbcrs andoscillated by the rise and fall of said chambers, and means carried bythe last named. lever for suddenly tilting the first named lever whenthe second named lever has passed the point where it is horizontal.

7. A pneumatic pump including a pair of submerged verticallyrcciprocatablc chain hers, each having an inlet opening and a checkvalve, an outlet pipe, a vertically reciprocatable c'scharge pipeextending to the top of each chamber and then to the bottom thereof andhaving therein an u iiwardly opening check valve, a flexible tubularconnection between the upper ends of both pipes, flexible outletconnection from the upper end. of one pipe, an outlet pipe with whichthe last named flexible outlet connection is engaged. and having an airchamber in its length, a lever pivotally engaged with the upper cues ofboth outlet pipes, a pair of valve casings, one for each chamber. anddisposed above the same, each valve 4 i u' a I casing having an airinlet port connected to a source of air under pressure and a pipeleading from the middle of each valve casing to the top 01'? thecorresponding chamber, a reciprocatable stem disposed in each valvecasing and having at one end a valve adapted to close the air inlet portand at the other end a valve adapted to close the exhaust port each stemextending downward through the lower end of the valve casing and havingspaced stops, a lever fulcrumed at its middle and having heads disposedbetween the spaced stops or the respective valve stems, the heads beingsmaller than the 1 distance between said stops, a second leverfulcrurned at its middle and having operative engagement at its endswith the vertical pipes of the chambers and oscillated by the rise andfall of said chambers, an arm mounted upon the last named lever andupwardly projecting therefrom and carrying a roller, a hollow armmounted upon the first named lever a stem carrying a roller disposed insaid hollow arm, and a spring in' said hollow arm acting to urge thelast named roller toward the first named roller.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

WILLARD G. SMYTHE.

